Gay gaze at the SF International Asian American Film Festival
Published 03/10/2011
by David Lamble
http://www.ebar.com/arts/art_article.php?sec=film&article=858 (http://www.ebar.com/arts/art_article.php?sec=film&article=858)
Tales of the Waria Kathy Huang's intimate doc explores a vibrant Muslim society's surprising tolerance for biological men who conduct their daily lives as women – including having de facto marriages with straight men – while expressing no desire to have surgery. Suharni, an HIV-positive, former sex worker, has a solid relationship, but feels a need to leave the nest to make extra cash in the tourist haunts of Bali. The aging Mami Ria gets a nip-and-tuck in a desperate attempt to hold onto her status as #2 wife of a cop. The youthful Agus, who abandoned cross-dressing for a traditional marriage, has lately felt more of a need to hang with his old waria friends. Beauty pageant trainer Tiara considers her female ways to be part of god's plan. It's clear that while these "lady men" have avoided the deadly perils of a queer identity in a Muslim society, the aging process produces new challenges for which there are few comfortable answers. (Viz, 3/13; Kabuki, 3/15)